Friday, February 09, 2007

The Fight in Kansas Heats Up

Last November, pro-science moderates won a 6-4 majority on the Kansas State Board of Education. Next Tuesday, the board is expected vote out the ID-inspired standards adopted last year and replace them with the science standards drafted by the curriculum writing committee chaired by Steve Case.

That doesn't mean that ID activist John Calvert and his merry band of IDiots have given up however. On the contrary, Calvert and company have launched an offensive designed to put pressure on moderate board members.

On Jan. 30, Calvert issued a news release that claims, in part:

Many Kansans are concerned that proposed changes to Kansas Science Standards will cause Kansas Public Education to indoctrinate young children in Materialism, the philosophy that dominates Russian culture. This teaching model permits only material or natural causes to explain where we come from. It systematically excludes legitimate scientific controversies about materialistic theories of the origin of life (chemical evolution) and the origin of large scale changes in bio-diversity (macro-evolution).

Calvert and the ID Network have also dressed up their Kansas Science 2005 website with an online petition which they claim has gathered some 2,500 signatures supporting the statement that "[p]resenting only the case for a materialistic origin of life could establish a state ideology that supports Atheism, Humanism, and other non-theistic religions and belief systems while denigrating traditional theistic beliefs."

As always, they misstate what is in the science standards. There is nothing -- nothing at all -- about origin of life in the standards written by the majority of the standards committee. While scientists have put forward a number of interesting hypothesis about the origin of life, there is, as yet, no compelling evidence for any of them. Certainly, in origin of life research, there is no settled science that is ready to be taught in secondary school classrooms.

We can expect that Calvert and his supporters will be out in full force during the board of education's public comment period next Tuesday.

Kansas Citizens for Science is calling on supporters of real science education to come to the board meeting to speak out in favor of dumping the ID-inspired standards and adopting real science standards for Kansas public schools. The public comment period will be on Tuesday, February 13 at 10:30 in Topeka at the state Department of Education Building, 120 SE 10th. Avenue.

KCFS is also asking that you e-mail state Board members (e-mail addresses below) expressing your support for their “Yes” vote to adopt the new standardsand write letters of support to your local news media.

Here are email addresses for the Board members:

These Board members support the committee’s recommended standards. Support them in their voting “Yes” to adopt new standards.

These Board members object to the committee’s recommended standards. They are part of the group that subverted the standards process in order to adopt the intelligent design-influenced standards. Let them know that you think they also should do the right thing and vote “Yes” to adopt the new standards.

Events Calendar

Today's YouTube Video

Joan Bokaer of Theocracy Watch describes the rise of Dominionism in the U.S. government. Bokaer explains how the Religious Right took over the Republican Party, and how President Bush, along with his Religious Right allies in Congress, are attempting to transform the United States into a Christian nation.